The Iceman is a crime thriller that was released in UK cinemas in June 2013. Starring Michael Shannon and Winona Ryder, The Iceman tells the true story of notorious mafia hitman Richard Kulklinski. Depicting the true tales of Kulklinski’s life as a hitman, the film shows the life of a killer and a family man. At the time of his arrest in 1986, neither his nor daughters knew about his profession.
I have to say that I didn’t know what to expect from this film as it wasn’t heavily advertised, the trailer wasn’t played much and there wasn’t much (if any) press coverage on the film. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. To start with the story is utterly fascinating and to know that it is based on true events makes it even more fascinating. By watching the film you get a chance to try and understand this man but I don’t think you can and that made me more interested.
The cast are brilliant. Michael Shannon plays Richard Kulklinski and it is a great performance. He really does capture the coldness that this man possessed and menacing yet intriguing to watch. I have seen Michael Shannon in a few things but this role certainly stands out as one of his best. Chris Evans also appears as killer Mr Freezy and even though he is unrecognisable, it is again, another good performance by an actor in this film.
The other thing I really enjoyed about how the film was made was the way that they moved through time. The film moves over a timescale of 10-15 years and it does it very subtly and very graceful. I don’t know why it stood out for me but it seemed to have been done better than any other film I have seen.
I cant say much about what I didn’t like about the film because I was really gripped and interested but if you read up about this man and read up about his life there is a lot there that could have given the film a little more. The one actor I didn’t particularly like in the film was David Schwimmer. He played Josh Rosenthal and I don’t know what it was about him but I just didn’t like him in the role and didn’t like how he was playing the character. That was the biggest let down of the film for me.
Overall if these kinds of real stories fascinate you then you should definitely watch this. Everything about it was gripping and interesting and Michael Shannon is definitely the star of the whole thing. His performance stands out amongst all of the others and he really does make the whole thing a great watch.
* * * *
AmyMWestlake 